HARTINGTON — Darrel Draper, Omaha, dressed in full attire as Theodore Roosevelt performed a “living history” of the famous figure Oct. 18 at the Hartington Library.

Theodore Roosevelt was born Oct. 27, 1828. As a child he was a semi-invalid and could not attend the public school. As a result, he was home-schooled by his aunt.

“I was taught reading, writing and that other discipline that I could not quite wrap my head around,” Roosevelt said.

After graduating high school in 1876, Roosevelt went to Harvard, where he excelled in science, history and foreign language. He was also the captain of the rowing and boxing team his senior year.

During the winter of his senior year in 1879, Roosevelt visited a friend’s home, Richard Saltonstall. There, he would meet his first wife, Alice Hathaway Lee. Soon after meeting her, they were engaged. The couple was married Oct. 27, 1880.

Alice died the next year, while giving birth to their only child, whose name was also Alice. Roosevelt’s mother, Martha, also passed away that day due to typhoid fever.

Roosevelt asked his sister Anna to care for his child as her own and he went off to become a rancher in the Dakota Territories. He would eventually return after marrying his second wife, long-time childhood friend, Edith Kermit Karow.

In 1888, Roosevelt became a campaigner for Benjamin Harrison, and campaigned across a number of states. Harrison ended up narrowly beating President Grover Cleveland.

As his reward for all the help, Roosevelt was made the Federal Civil Services Commissioner in 1889. During this time, he cleaned up the corruption, greed and bribery in the civil services system.

From there, Roosevelt moved back to New York and became the Police Commissioner until 1897. At that time, there were two notorious gangs of criminals in the city.

“The first one consisted of extortionists, kidnappers, murderers, thieves and owners of houses of ill-repute and houses of gambling,” Draper said. “That gang was known as the New York City Police Dept.”

The other gang was a group of ruffians who lived down by the waterfront, Draper said. So, he fired the Chief of Police and many of the Captains and cleaned up the department. Roosevelt was always making sure police officers were doing their job.

In 1897, Roosevelt was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy. But he would resign in May 1898 because he heard war with Spain was imminent. He organized a volunteer cavalry unit known as the “Rough Riders.”

Of the 1,500, only 900 deployed to San Juan Hill to battle the Spanish. The Spanish would surrender after just 90 days. Upon returning home, he found he was seen as a hero because of what happened on San Juan Hill.

And at the time, someone was needed to run against the Democratic candidate for governor of New York. Roosevelt campaigned from north to south, and east to west and won with 15,000 votes.

From 1898-1890, he was governor. But the people wanted to lure the “crazy cowboy” to resign from this position. So, they offered him a position as the vice-president of the United States.

William McKinley and Roosevelt won the election and became president and vice-president March 4, 1901. But, six months later, Sept. 6, 1901, McKinley was shot and killed while attending the Pan American Exposition.

As a result, Roosevelt was sworn into office as the 26th President of the United States. The Secret Service called Teddy and his family moving into the White House the worst invasion since the British had burned to the ground in 1814 because he arrived with two daughters and four sons.

“Each one of the children had a menagerie of exotic pets, all of which they brought to the White House,” Draper said.

Yet, even with his five children to take care of as well as being president, Roosevelt did a lot during his time in office. He settled the Anthracite Coal Strike and negotiated a peace treaty between Japan and Russia, was instrumental in helping get building started for the Panama Canal.

Roosevelt would be inaugurated for a second term in 1905 and would continue achieving many things in the White House including establishing the first 18 national monuments.

His time in office would end March 4, 1909, when William Taft was sworn in as the 27th president of the United States.